Tuesday, 11 August 2015

If you like X try Y

I've been meaning to do one of these posts for ages, and then booktubers started making videos sort of like this and I enjoyed those so... Finally getting around to doing this post.

I'm going to recommend a book and then recommend other things (another book, TV show/mini-series, movie, etc) that someone who liked that book may enjoy (also works in reverse -- if you've already seen the movie I recommend but not read the book that prompted the recommendation, maybe give the book a try).

Why: Like Eleanor & Park, this is a story where the main character isn't slim and yet she still gets a love story and losing weight isn't park of her journey because she accepts who she is and finds someone who thinks she's beautiful just as she is. Also, while the romance isn't racially diverse, the male love interest is in a wheelchair so they are a diverse couple in their own way.

Why: Once again, going with the weight theme here... The main character of this show is overweight. She's dealing with mental health issues, family issues, she's confident in some ways and insecure in others. Her story is funny and it's heartbreaking and it's about friendship and love and acceptance and getting better -- and, again, she gets a love story. Plus! If you liked that Eleanor & Park was set in the 80's, this show is set in the 90's.

Why: Again, the time period -- flashbacks are 80's, movie is 90's so it has that similar sort of atmosphere that Eleanor & Park does. The main character isn't exactly overweight, but she's not one of the thin, model pretty, popular girls either and it's about her accepting who she is, getting over her high school traumas, finding love and all that nice stuff.

Why: It has a lot of similarities to The Duff, like insecurity and self-confidence, like sexuality, like self-respect... I dunno, I just think they have a lot of overlapping themes but it's presented in a slightly more comedic way in Awkward. (Just a note though: the first season or two were definitely better, it lost a lot of its charm later on).

Why: Well, The Duff has its own movie so that would've been the obvious rec (except they do change a lot of the story)... But yeah, Ten Inch Hero (although, this rec really depends on your age) -- the characters are in their 20's and it's about friendship and realising you need to love and accept yourself and it's just really good and sweet and funny.

***I grouped those two together because they have similar subject matter so the recs for those two books are interchangeable***

Why: Heartbreaking WW2 story, beautiful writing. Female main character and the things she goes through and losses she experiences. Any hints of romance are only minor sub-plots, friendship and family are the heart of the stories.

Why: Spies during WW2, including female spies. If you liked that aspect of Code Name Verity, check this show out. Agent Carter, also because female spies although not set during WW2 and as she's a Marvel character it does have more of those comic book elements to it.

Why: Crimson Field is actually set during the first world war, but it's about a group of women working in a field hospital in France. Our Girl is a modern story, it's about a girl who joins the army and becomes a medic and it shows her time in Afghanistan and how it is for her to be a female working in a male dominated setting. Basically, the theme of my recommendations here seems to mostly be women during wars.

Why: It's about a young girl in Russia during the siege of Leningrad. This is more of a love story than Between Shades of Gray, and while there are some overlapping themes (e.g. struggling to survive brutal conditions/starvation) they are very different stories...the reason I'm recommending it is because Between Shades of Gray told a story about a side of the war not often talked about/told in books (at least the ones I find) and I feel like The Bronze Horseman did the same.

Why: This movie is subtitled but worth watching. It's about a young German girl and her siblings just as the war is coming to an end -- her father was a Nazi and it's about her disillusionment, her journey of coming to terms with the awful things he had done while struggling to get herself and her siblings to the safety of her grandmother. Again, it's a young girl trying to survive the consequences of war and a different side to the story.

***again, with those, similar subject matter so the recommendations are kind of interchangeable***

Why: I admit, I wasn't really a fan of this book. Strange way to start a recommendation, I know, but I've also seen mostly glowing reviews of the book from people on Goodreads and booktube and blogs...so, while it wasn't exactly my kind of thing, I do think it's one that might work for fans of TFiOS.

Why: This show was great and it was cancelled after one series but it ends in a good place. Basically, it's set in a hospital and it's about a group of sick kids -- their illnesses, their family issues and friendships and romances, the shenanigans they get up to, the nurses and doctors taking care of them. Plus, it's a pretty diverse cast (racially, and because of the illnesses of the kids). It has two kids with cancer (one of which has only one leg), a girl with anorexia, a girl with a heart condition, a boy with cystic fibrosis...all in the main cast.

Movie:Keith (link to the trailer, but the trailer basically spoils the movie, jsyk)

Why: Keith is kind of the odd one out of these recommendations...with the other two, I chose them because they tried to show a more realistic portrayal of sick kids because movies and books and shows tend to turn them into these wise and smart beyond their years characters whose purpose is to change the life of the main character. And this movie, it actually does fall into the cliche, but it was still good in spite of that.

Why: Legend of the Seeker because it's an epic fantasy series, it has strong female characters and magic and all that good stuff. Reign is a bit more grounded in reality as it's an attempt at making a show about Mary Queen of Scots (*is Scottish, is laughing*) but watching it really does feel more like watching a fictional fantasy show -- they've added subtle supernatural elements and it's not historically accurate and the costumes are incredibly pretty but laughably wrong...so yeah, female queen and her group of friends and their lives at court and all that good stuff.

Why: Again, about fae. This one is actually about a succubus and her human best friend/sidekick solving fae crime (there's more to it than that, and there's a larger fae story arc going on, but in the early seasons the episode arcs were mostly like them working on cases).

Why: While not about fae, both of these feature girls pulled from their own world into fantasy settings (in The 10th Kingdom, it's kind of Once Upon a Time-ish, where storybook characters are real...with Alice, it's an interesting take on Wonderland with a really adorable Hatter).

I have more of these written out, but I'll stop there.

If you'd like more of these posts or if there's a book/show/movie you want to see recommendations based on, just mention it in the comments (and what you want the theme of the recommendations to be, like similar subject matter, similar plot, similar atmosphere or relationships, etc.).